


The King of Bad Decisions

by random_chick



Category: Torchwood, Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-29
Updated: 2013-09-29
Packaged: 2017-12-27 23:06:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/984721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/random_chick/pseuds/random_chick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’d been five years since she’d gone away; each and every one of those five years, there were a few anniversaries that Owen Harper celebrated by getting absolutely blind stinking drunk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The King of Bad Decisions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/gifts).



It’d been five years since she’d gone away; each and every one of those five years, there were a few anniversaries that Owen Harper celebrated by getting absolutely blind stinking drunk. It wasn’t the smartest decision he’d ever made -- he was damn near the King of Bad Decisions, really -- but it was the one that made him not feel alone for a while.

Because when he drank, it felt like Lilly was there. He knew she wasn’t -- he wasn’t so drunk as to be delusional -- but there were moments, like when he drank their favorite brand of alcohol, that he’d have a flash of feeling that maybe, just maybe he could feel her there.

She never was, of course. She was dead and gone and was never coming back. He often thought that he could deal with that. It would hurt and he’d feel raw for a long time, but he could deal with that. What he couldn’t deal with was the fact that he’d been so damn in love with her when she… died? How _did_ you phrase it when your girlfriend had been already dead to begin with?

Yes, he’d dated Blair, in all her Bitch Queen glory, but he’d never gotten over Lilly. She’d always been the ghost in the room, no pun intended, and he and Blair had been unable to make it through. They’d lasted almost a year, though, and it’d been pretty good.

But Owen hadn’t wanted “pretty good,” had always wanted more. Had always wanted what he’d had with Lilly. What he could never have again, not with the woman he wanted it with, and so he drank. Every anniversary, he drank until he blacked out. It wasn’t healthy, but this was Owen Harper and his life was anything but healthy.

Owen sat on his bed, empty bottle dangling from his fingertips. He’d known this anniversary would be a rough one, being the five-year anniversary of Lilly’s leaving and all, but he hadn’t expected it to be as bad as it had been. So he was grateful when the blackness claimed him for the night. Thinking could happen again the next morning.

But as it came to him, so did something else -- that all too familiar ghostly feel of Lilly’s presence in the room, of her lips against his forehead, her hand against his arm. And then it was gone and he was well and truly out cold.

The room’s other occupant, however, was anything but out cold.

Lilly Kane sat perched on the edge of Owen’s bed, brushing his hair back from his forehead gently. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry it had to play out the way it did, Owen. I wish it hadn’t. I wish I could’ve stayed with you.”

She let her fingers trail down his cheek. “You need to move on, though, sweetheart. It’s not healthy for you like this. You need to let your heart heal so you can truly give it to someone again.” She smiled tenderly. “And you’ll find that someone, too. I promise. You’ll do a lot of looking, but you’ll find them.”

What? The dead just knew shit, okay?

She looked at him for a long moment, as though she were committing him to memory.

“I’m not supposed to come back again, Owen,” she said softly. “They don’t like it when I come to you. But screw them.” She laughed softly, gave a toss of her long blonde hair, and said, “But the next time I come… it’s going to be at a time that really matters. So it might be a while, okay? But don’t ever doubt that I’m with you in thought and that I’m always going to love you.”

And with that, she disappeared. No fuss, no muss, no flash or pomp. Just a simple blink-and-you-miss-it vanishing.

She’d meant it, though. No matter what the higher-ups thought, no matter what they said, she _would_ come back to him again. Because _nobody_ kept Lilly Kane from doing what she wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> Set in an AU where Owen and Lilly went to high school together -- stems from an RP several years ago.


End file.
